1. Field of the Related Art
The present disclosure relates to printing systems, and more particularly, to a method and a system for storing, accessing, and retrieving documents within a multi-point document printing system.
2. Background of the Related Art
In general, a multifunction device (MFD) operates as a plurality of different imaging devices, including, but not limited to, a printer, copier, fax machine, and/or scanner. In recent years the basic office copier has evolved into what can be referred to as a MFD. With digital technology, a machine with the basic outward appearance of a traditional copier can perform at least the additional functions of printing documents submitted in digital form over a network, sending and receiving messages via facsimile, recording hard-copy original images in digital form and sending the resulting data over a network, such as in electronic mail and/or recording hard-copy original images in digital form on a compact disc or equivalent medium.
In the area of digital printing and copying, there has been a growth in demand for MFDs. Such MFD devices may assume the form of an arrangement in which a single print engine (e.g., xerographic or thermal ink jet print engine) is coupled with a plurality of different image input devices (or “services”), with such devices being adapted to produce image related information for use by the printer or transmitted over a network. The image related information, in one example, could have its origin in video facsimile signals, microfilm, data processing information, light scanning platens for full size documents, aperture cards, and microfiche. MFDs provide a broader range of functionality than traditional single-function devices, such as dedicated printers, copiers, and scanners. As a result, because of their network transmission capabilities combined with their functionality, it would be useful for a user of one MFD to print to another MFD without the need of a centralized server.
In many instances, individuals attempt to print to a printing device, only to find that the printing task was lost or failed to print to such a printing device. On certain occasions, individuals may wish to (1) reprint a printing task on a different printing device than the one originally used or (2) retrieve a scanned document from one multifunction device (MFD) and reprint it on another MFD. In most cases, these tasks are accomplished if the individual resends the printing task from his or her workstation to the second printing device or retrieves the document from the first MFD and re-sends it from his workstation to the second MFD. However, this is quite cumbersome and time-consuming to many individuals.
Moreover, in existing printing solutions, an individual sometimes prints to a device and finds that the job/task was lost or did not print successfully. Other times, after walking to the printer, the individual may wish to share a previously printed document with others, print more copies and/or convert document formats without using a computer. While there are server-based techniques to achieve aforementioned storage-based scenarios, the effort to pre-establish stored content is not negligible to an average user. For example, users have to determine whether there is a server, create an account, interact with the system through a specific user interface (e.g. a Web User Interface (UI)), upload/store documents or browse and retrieve documents through this interface. Efforts for developers to make such systems widely available involve extra time and labor.
Thus, while some conventional systems allow document sharing, such document sharing mechanisms usually involve saving the printing tasks on a remotely mounted centralized server accessible by multiple devices.
Consequently, current systems employing servers lack the capability to effectively share documents with a plurality of users either located in the same facility and/or located in various remote geographical areas. The present disclosure is intended to overcome the drawbacks of other methods by providing for multi-point access printing systems. In particular, the present disclosure relates to a system and method for storing, accessing, and retrieving documents within a multi-point document printing system, without using a centralized server.